Thank God for football. The Olympics left me in a sports black hole for a week, but this past weekend football competition across Europe started up again. The biggest story comes from England where Rat Van Persie left Arsenal to join archrivals Manchester United. [34 photos total]

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- Curiosity took its first test drive around the gravel-strewn Martian terrain Wednesday, preparation for the ultimate road trip to find out if the red planet's environment could have supported life.The six-wheel NASA rover did not stray far from the spot where it landed more than two weeks ago. It rolled forward about 15 feet, rotated to a right angle and reversed a short distance, leaving tracks in the ancient soil.Mission managers were ecstatic that the maiden trek of the $2.5 billion mission was glitch-free."It couldn't be more important," said project manager Peter Theisinger at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "We built a rover. So unless the rover roves, we really haven't accomplished anything ... It's a big moment."Curiosity landed in Gale Crater near the Martian equator Aug. 5 to explore whether the environment once supported microbial life. The touchdown site has been named Bradbury Landing in honor of the late "The Martian Chronicles" author Ray Bradbury, who would have turned 92 on Wednesday. [21 photos total]

The desire to float on the breeze is a strong one. The illusion of escaping gravity, however briefly, has driven mankind in myriad attempts at flight. The animals that achieve this are the subject of envy, study, and imitation. Flying, falling, or floating, the following images show us joyfully escaping the bounds of gravity, even if just for a moment. [31 photos total]

Last March, the operators of the Hubble Space Telescope launched a competition, inviting amateur astronomers to dig into hundreds of thousands of images of outer space, helping discover hidden treasures and bring them to light. Yesterday, NASA and the European Space Agency announced the winners in both categories: image processing, where entrants composed their own images based on Hubble data, and image search, where entrants simply uncovered amazing images not previously released. Collected here are 16 of the winning images. Be sure to visit the Hubble site to see them all. [16 photos total]

More than 624,000 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan have filed disability claims (both physical and mental), the Military Times reported in January and a recent ABC news report says that according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, there are 1, 286 service members who are now amputees as a result of those two wars. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars have made the term IED (Improvised Explosive Device) a household term. IED injuries result in thousands of US military war wounded suffering from amputations, burns and functional limb loss. The vets spend months (and sometimes years) in outpatient care, many at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX. The BAMC comprises the Center for the Intrepid that is home to the largest inpatient medical facility in the Department of Defense. The hospital is the DOD's only burn center and Level 1 trauma center in the US. Getty Images photographer John Moore takes us inside the hospital, showing some of the wounded's steps to recovery. [33 photos total]

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- Argentines are embracing their partners and gliding at the world's largest annual tango festival and championship. The two-week long offering of more than 500 free dance lessons, concerts and recitals began Tuesday evening August 14, in the capital of Buenos Aires. It included a homage to Astor Piazzolla, Argentina's most popular player of the bandoneon, the concertina-like accordion that is synonymous with Tango. Hundreds of professional dancers will compete in the championship and teach many the eight basic steps of the dance in the city where it was born. [25 photos total]

It's time once more for a look into the animal kingdom and our interactions with the countless other species that share our planet. Today's photos include a WiFi-enabled donkey, a wayward badger, Slash holding a koala, and a farewell to Bao Bao, the world's oldest male panda. These images and many others are part of this roundup of animals in the news from recent weeks, seen from the perspectives of their human observers, companions, captors, and caretakers, part of an ongoing series on animals in the news. [41 photos total]

Worldwide, lightning strikes around 50 times every second (more than 4 million times every day). Electrical imbalances generated by turbulent skies are suddenly balanced by a spectacular discharge tracing across a darkened sky -- a display that is both frightening and awe-inspiring. Collected below are recent images of lightning around the world, including a rare image of an upper atmosphere "red sprite" flash captured by NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station. [24 photos total]

In February, four members of a feminist Russian punk-rock band named "Pussy Riot," protesting against President Vladimir Putin's government, walked into the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. They wore bright-colored balaclavas and performed a provocative song called "Punk Prayer," with lyrics that called on the Virgin Mary to drive Putin away, and condemned the close relationship of the church and the Russian government. Shortly after, three of the women were arrested and detained for months as a 2,800-page indictment was compiled, accusing them of criminal hooliganism and religious hatred. On Friday, the three were convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment, after a trial widely condemned by outside observers as an attack on free speech. Gathered here are several images from the trial and the reactions of Pussy Riot supporters around the world. [34 photos total]

You thought I’d forgotten about The photos of 2012 week 33 right? Wrong. Week 33 was the week that saw the Olympic games in London come to a close and the troubles in Syria still be as serious as ever. New this week is the violence in South Africa, where more than 30 miners were killed by police becasue they were on strike for better pay. Here’s a tip to all future strikers, don’t go on strike carrying machetes and spears and refuse to put them down. Let’s hope week 34 brings us a bit more joy. [52 photos total]